Know your medications

The days of blindly taking whatever the doctor prescribes are gone (if they ever existed).  With managed care, HMOs, etc., you can not depend on your physician being well acquainted with your history and health conditions.

To protect yourself, you need to become an active partner in your medication program.  This includes understanding why certain medications have been prescribed. 

Studies show that patients who have accurate information about their drug regimens are much more likely to follow through than those without.  Knowledgeable patients are also better able to evaluate how a new prescription is affecting them.

Get answers

It's time to get a handle on your prescriptions.  For each one, you want to learn:

• the name of the medicine - both trade name and generic/chemical name

• the strength of the medicine

• the correct dosage (four ounces, two pills, etc.)

• the dosage schedule (once daily, morning and evening, on empty stomach, etc.) 

• how long to take

• what it should do

• possible side effects (the expected and the dangerous) and what you should do if they occur

• potential food/drug interactions (Be doubly safe:  check with your pharmacist and on-line at  www.planetrx.com or a similar site)

• precautions you should follow while taking the drug

When it comes to medications, ignorance is definitely not bliss. So start asking questions.

Get organized

You will need some system for organizing what you know.  Our free Medication Record can help.  Better yet, use an inexpensive IdentiMed System to gain control of your medication schedule.

Another option is to computerize your records.  Information on medications can be combined with other family health data, including physicians, health conditions, treatments, tests, etc. and stored on your personal computer.